grievous bodily harmony

I've moved...

2010-10-06T21:42:00.001+01:00

hello hello!

Ok, so this post shall be my last here in my dear little blogger account. I've moved on to bigger, maybe better but certainly more Wordpressy things, and from here onwards you can find my ramblings at: baxeroo.wordpress.com

love you x

drain art

2010-09-20T13:07:00.003+01:00

I know I haven't blogged in like, a million years, but stumbled across these and thought they were pretty and cool.

Graylingwell follow up

2010-03-30T15:39:00.013+01:00

I'm not going to bang on about my event, but wanted to show you the pics as there are some really cute ones!

mwah xx

launch event in Chichester

2010-03-19T12:12:00.004Z

Yep, another shameless self promotion blog post for yours truly. But this time there's free stuff and fireworks involved. ooooh exciting!

If you are in or around Chichester on Saturday 20th (i.e tomorrow) you should get your good self involved with the Graylingwell Park launch party. Graylingwell Park is a new building development (here) in Chichester, and will be the largest carbon neutral development in the UK when it is completed in 7 years time. It's being built on some beautiful land, and the first phase will be launching tomorrow.

This launch event is devised and executed by none other than moi, but more to the point there will be awesome street entertainment in or around Chichester Market Cross where my delightful market traders will be handing out free stuff (yes, FREE stuff!). Also, during the day you can visit the Graylingwell Park site and be shown round the fab new show homes (probably only relevant if you want to buy property in Chichester). Look out for the branded rickshaws, you can ride these up to the site for free from the top of North street. Later on from about 5pm there will be DJ's, hog roast (!!!), cupcakes, a little bit of booze and a massive firework display to finish the night off at around 7.30pm.

fun fun fun!

I will also be there, probably wearing wellies and stuffing my face with hog roast and cake.

mwah xxx

another cute ad from Drench

2010-02-23T17:07:00.003Z

Loved the hamsters, and now loving the goldfish. My fave bit is at 39sec when the bald chap bobs his head to the music. But then, strange things have always made me laugh.

McAdvertising

2010-01-18T16:26:00.004Z

Although I do not advocate the drinking of McDonalds coffee, this ad is quite fun and clever.

McDonald's - Steaming Coffee Cup outdoor bus poster - (2010) 1:40 (Canada)

tree of yay

2009-12-14T13:59:00.004Z

This year I am feeling really very festive, so when my mum said she wasn't getting a Christmas tree I had a little stroppy tantrum and insisted that we get one otherwise we may as well cancel Christmas blah blah blah...

So, she got a tree. This is it:

It is probably the shittest tree in the world, not to mention the amazing fibre optic colour changing chav-ness of it. It's not really a tree, more of a Christmas twig.

When she sent this picture to me I have to admit it made me laugh continually for about half an hour. That'll teach me for being a spoilt brat...

so cute!

2009-12-03T12:02:00.001Z

love them love them love them!

because giant pigeons are fun...

2009-11-17T17:30:00.003Z

Panasonic are promoting the new Lumix ZX-1 digital camera, which has an 8x optical zoom lens amongst other lovely camera type features. They are doing this through the '8x life' campaign which utilises online and outdoor media. The main thing which attracted me to this was the use of a giant pigeon in London Bridge. I have no shame in saying this is my reason for writing about it. Had it been a chicken on the other hand, I wouldn't be writing this, I would be in London Bridge laughing hysterically and probably tring to sail the bird down the Thames.

Anyway, Panasonic have placed various giant everyday objects around 6 cities in the UK which is fun. The fun continues online where they are running a facebook competition where the entrants have to 'upload a photo which uses perspective to make something look bigger or smaller than it really is' to win a trip to the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. I would have preferred to win a free camera to watching some guy ski down a hill, but there you go.

Here is their facebook page

woo!

love it? hate it?

2009-11-12T16:02:00.009Z

Yesterday I visited the Marmite pop-up shop on Regent Street, which was fun. I am most certainly a Marmite lover and was intrigued to visit.

My photo doesn't really do it justice, but the whole place was brilliantly designed, with cool kitsch decor and funky pop art on the walls.

Much of the merchandise for sale was unique to the pop-up, and there were some really cute gifts and pop-art prints on canvas for sale. Really nostalgic and lovely.

Upstairs there is a little cafe, although when we went it was sort of closed as they were having a party that evening (boo! and I really wanted some toast) But there were features such as an interactive 'love it' 'hate it' sticker wall, and a table where you could happily graffiti all day.

We were debating around the office whether a pop-up shop could be classified as 'experiential', and in this instance I think that the purpose of the shop is much more retail based and therefore not so much a brand experience. However, the way that Marmite have delivered this beautiful and interactive, nostalgic and retro pop-up could be classified as an experience of sorts. Walking around the shop, talking to the enthusiastic brand ambassadors and being completely emmersed in a brand in such a querky way was certainly something I will remember. And ultimately, if a brand experience can be merged with retail in some way surely this is a more economical way to go, and ultimately increase the ROI. 2 birds. 1 stone. lovely jubly.

this gives new meaning to 'fly posting'

2009-11-03T09:57:00.002Z

this is actually quite horrible. I hate anything to do with flies, and the thought of them landing on me is enough for a gag reaction. ewwww...

lovely chickens

2009-10-01T10:51:00.001+01:00

Gloaming Chickens
Originally uploaded by Sherwood Harrington

listen to their gentle clucking. how cute!

skittles 'touch' by TBWA\Chiat\Day New York

2009-09-24T11:49:00.003+01:00

I think this is fantastic, sad and happy, but beautifully done. YAY! more adverts like this please.

Also this is quite a fun link. You can tell I am hugely busy today right?

I won a mug!

2009-08-11T14:31:00.005+01:00

YAY! I just won a Cravendale mug! So I can enjoy the yummiest milk ever, from a really awesome mug.

This is also useful if you need to know how I take my coffee, so take note.

Oh, and you can also watch the new tv ad's on their site here.

I heart cravendale...

good friends give free jazz

2009-08-02T13:41:00.004+01:00

My good friend john works for a company called Air who specialize in all things Jazz and PR. Through this, john has the privilege of working closely with Ronnie Scotts the awesome jazz venue in London and quite often hangs out there of an evening. This particular evening he took me to see the Roy Hargrove Quintet as his + 1, and wow, it was fantastic.

I am no music connoisseur by any means, especially when the music in question is not on the Magic fm playlist, however this experience at Ronnie's simply blew me away.

The atmosphere inside the club is so electric and exciting, you feel like you're in Bugsy Malone. Red table lamps cast a dimly lit glow over the room, really magical.

Roy Hargrove was something to behold, as were his accompanying musicians. The rhythm and melodies exploding from the stage made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. It was as if you were smoking, inhaling every note, and getting the same high as the musicians. I think I was drunk on the music, more intoxicating than my glass of wine. The rendition of my funny valentine was awesome, slightly avant-garde but intertwined with recognizable elements of the classic song, which had the effect of teasing the audience with the loved and recognised tune.

I fell a little bit in-love with the pianist (Jonathan Batiste) who I spoke to after the gig (!!!!) and the only thing I could think of to say was 'wow, your fingers do amazing things'. Not the best introduction on my part I fear. But he was INCREDIBLE. He played the piano with such classical detail Chopin would have choked on his drink. He also wore an amazing tie.

The performance as a whole was so heavy with emotion and excitement I wanted to jump out of my seat and flail my arms in the air like a loony. Luckily for John, I managed to restrain myself for most of the evening, with only a small amount of 'jazz hands' under the table where they couldn't be seen.

Anyway, enough gushing. But John, if you're reading this, please can we go again? Soon?

bruno brilliance

2009-07-02T11:30:00.001+01:00

Gillette activity update

2009-02-27T14:11:00.002Z

Ok, so I was wrong about the car - it's not a Ferrari, but a white Lamborghini... far more awesome.

check it out

LIVE LIKE A CHAMPION!

2009-02-26T18:55:00.003Z

Hello hello, another blog about work - this time it's about Gillette, another lovely P&G job we're doing.

This time the boys get to have some fun! The whole event is themed around living like a champion and winning various AWESOME prizes; such as having a supercar for the weekend, going to see a gig at the O2 and arriving by speedboat, or getting a Saville Row tailored suit. In order to enter this competition and win one of these yummy prizes all you have to do is go to a participating Superdrug store, buy something from the new Gillette skincare range, fill out a leaflet and give it to one of our Gillette girls. Text 83332 for free to find your nearest store! If you win you will be notified that evening, and every store has at least 1 winner.

This event should be brilliant as it's trully integrated - we are having hitsquad activity, bluecasting, digital content on screens in Superdrug, digital content running in mainline stations throughout London, experiential activity in-store, and all day tomorrow i'll be based in Victoria train station with a massive white Ferari and some gorgeous Gillette honeys!

If you're passing through, come and check it out. I don't like cars but I almost swooned when I saw the photo of this beast!

how exciting!

x x

Get your hair styled FOR FREE!

2009-02-20T17:51:00.006Z

attention girlies (and chaps)! going out on saturday night? fancy getting a pro to style your gorgeous locks? of course! so get yourselves down to participating superdrug stores tomorrow from 10am - 6pm to get your hair styled by a professional for free, yep FREE.this is one of the first experiential campaigns i am running this year - it's for Pantene (Volume & Body) and it should be really fantastic!

it's also running on the 28th feb, 7th & 14th March

these are the participating superdrug stores where this event is taking place:

Uxbridge
Marble Arch
Kingston
Churchill Brighton
Thurrock
Milton Keynes
The Glades – Bromley
Basingstoke
Harlequin (Watford)
High Street Kensington
Meadowhall
Exeter
Northumberland
Bullring Birmingham
Argyle Street
Colchester
Gateshead
Merry Hill
Queens West Cardiff
Braehead

it is well worth going, i will be having a little 'mystery shop' tomorrow to make sure all is running smoothly (especially my hair after it's been styled!)

yay!

new year, new blog... sort of

2009-01-03T17:00:00.003Z

Well it's 2009. Whoop! Whoop! Another year begins and I write another list of 'resolutions' which will probably never be fulfilled, apart from number 7 - eat more nice food. I think that should be quite easy to achieve, especially seen as Santa bought me a bread maker this year. Bloody marvelous it is! One of it's many brilliant features is a 'time delay' setting, so you can be woken up by the sweet aroma of a homemade loaf in the morning.

Anyway, so far this post isn't depicting its title at all, so I shall stop my rambling and say what I intended to.

I'm not moving my digital home into a new more professional type 'pad'. (see what i did there) But have started writing the iblink blog - experience more.

It probably won't have any titillating tales of my internet wanderings, or pictures of chickens unless we do some experiential campaigns on a farmyard but you'll get to see what we get up to at iblink, which is quite fun!

I heart my new dress

2008-12-08T17:34:00.004Z

Hurray for ASOS! It looks like that cha-cha dress from Strictly! YAY for tassels! This little number is going to accompany me on quite a few xmas parties this year...

borough market sausages

2008-11-02T15:05:00.001Z

truly yummy. I ate these last night with roasted onion gravy, buttered leeks, peas and mash. The pheasant and venison ones were my faves, these are the purple looking ones on the left.

strictly

2008-10-05T18:18:00.001+01:00

Oh my god. Watched this last night, and Tom Chambers blew me away (not that i'm a holby city fan or anything...) He dances like a professional, even spotting his head when he turns. Bloody amazing. And really quite hot! Love Camilla's outfit too, damn she's a lucky girl. Check this out!!

Embedded Video

this is awesome

2008-10-05T13:12:00.001+01:00

FOUND Magazine | Equals Life

If it was me writing this it would be CSI = life

FMBE awards

2008-10-05T11:40:00.005+01:00

Yay! iblink won silver at the Field Marketing Brand Experience awards for the best integrated campaign. Lynx 3 was the first campaign I worked on at iblink and Lynx being Lynx it was a lot of fun. You can see a case study of the campaign here

Needless to say the awards evening was a messy affair. After the awards we ended up in Lucky Voice Karaoke bar along with clients. Hope they weren't put off by my terrible renditions of Duran Duran...

awesome chicken picture

2008-09-16T15:23:00.002+01:00

bingoheads

2008-09-15T22:28:00.003+01:00

i want to have a bingo head!

really love this advert! yay!

introducing the twiller

2008-09-15T21:15:00.005+01:00

I read about this ages ago, but haven't had a chance (due to workload / getting drunk etc.) to write about it. My initial blog was going to be about how writing a novel on twitter was quite an interesting idea, and how it reminded me of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations etc as this was published chapter at a time in a newspaper or something. However, although it might be an interesting medium in which to produce a work of fiction, after subscribing to Matthew Richtel's twitter feed I started to find his writing really really irritating.

I'm one of those people who will always use full words to text on my phone even if it means going into the second message. I won't even use commonly accepted abbreviations such as '2' rather than 'to'. Therefore this 'twiller' wound me up a tad as it is written using indecipherable text speak or should I say 'txt spk'.

So, prior to my subscription to this feed I had imagined that it would be like reading a series of poems which would build upon each other like a tapestry of sub plots, little bubbles of language all joined up with common purpose. But instead you get things like this: "i nevr went 2 colege. went 2 iraq. yep! wasin desert&..elsewher? memry formin as horizn b4 me. yet unclear. motorin" Now although this may be part of the point, it really gets my goat.

If you feel like taking a look, this chap's twitter feed is here: http://twitter.com/mrichtel

Or if you prefer to read full sentences you can subscribe to my feed where I shall tell you about what sort of lunch I'm eating, or what sort of powerpoint pres I'm working on among other things.

camera on bench project

2008-09-02T14:23:00.003+01:00

read about this and thought it was a pretty fun idea.
It reminded me of a friend of mines project he did in the second year of art school. He gave 20 disposable cameras to friends and colleagues and told them to take a picture of themselves first thing in the morning, literally when you have first woken up. The end result was pretty impressive when all 600 pics were displayed on a wall in our gallery. Unfortunately my naked left boob got into one which was rather embarrassing, but all in the name of art etc.

Samsung marching band viral

2008-08-31T15:28:00.001+01:00

i like this, very fun.

Embedded Video

Engage - Afterlife experiential campaign

2008-08-28T14:20:00.002+01:00

Embedded Video

guyliner

2008-08-05T12:43:00.004+01:00

For some reason this product really tickled me. Not because it's a makeup product specifically for men who aren't clowns or mimes, but I do love a product with a fun name. There is also 'manscara', but i think 'Guyliner' as a word sounds better.

At school for some project or other we had to invent a new product. I came up with 'The Moisturazor' - a normal razor with a moisturizing sponge thing attached to the neck. I made a prototype and everything using a bic and a kitchen sponge. Gillette or whoever have many razors with various moisturizing qualities, but they don't have the portmanteau product name! Woohoo! Anyway, back to Guyliner - it's 'Tested on guys – not on animals!' There was an amusing reference to this on last weeks Now show on Radio 4; They suggested that because this product is so very manly it should be tested on bears. Grrrrr...

Anyway, aside from the brilliance of Guyliner, I think men who wear eye makeup are really quite yummy. That comment excludes clowns and mimes.

love this animation

2008-07-31T14:21:00.003+01:00

this animation by CHI & Partners (who i've never actually heard of) is really awesome, even though it's an ad for the carphone warehouse

Know your goat

2008-07-18T16:29:00.001+01:00

Sure Girl

2008-07-17T21:41:00.004+01:00

This is what iBlink are doing at the moment. It's fun, very pink and aimed at 13 year old girls so probably not anyone who might read this, but anyhoo check out the campaign here or become our bebo friend here.

And if anyone is out and about in the centre this Saturday come to High St Ken or Marble Arch Superdrug (as that's where I'll be armed with a film crew and collecting vox pops from a bunch of excited teenagers) and we can go for a pint after my work is done.

Yay!

Another blog about farmyard animals

2008-07-08T09:03:00.002+01:00

My boyfriends old boss has set up this amazing thing! Chicken lovers everywhere (well, in North London) can save battery hens from being slaughtered and give them a new happy life full of space and love and cuddles! How wonderful is that? Isn't it the most awesome thing ever? I think you'll find that it is.

Just look at this one all fat and lovely!

I really wish I had a garden. I asked Mike and he won't let me keep house chickens, even though they did it on Friends. He said that just because they did it on Friends didn't make it plausible or relevant. There may be a grain of truth in that I suppose.

Oh well, I guess we'll just have to move house then.

look at my beautiful bag

2008-06-26T11:00:00.002+01:00

i am in love...

Do you find that your banana often gets damaged?

2008-06-23T18:01:00.003+01:00

Well if so, here is the perfect thing for you! The Banana Guard!

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Thank God someone has come up with an amazing invention like this one. I honestly don't think I could have carried on living this shameful banana bruised existance without it...

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And all for the bargain price of £5.45

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It's a shame my birthday has been and gone, maybe I should just buy it for myself through sheer greed. Sod it, I get paid at the end of the week so maybe i'll just spash out on this genius item. I mean look at it, who wouldn't want one?

It reminds me of that Dragons Den episode where a chap tried to market this plastic phallis thing which goes on the end of a cucumber to stop the end going wrinkley. Needless to say he didn't get any money for that project. Maybe it's the same guy and his unseen talents have suddenly struck gold with this pointless waste of yellow plastic. Well done!

cute wonderbra viral

2008-06-21T12:34:00.002+01:00

this made me chuckle. especially the soundtrack.

Embedded Video

spider cow loves Cravendale

2008-06-14T14:29:00.004+01:00

I love Cravendale. I was just going through about 400 unread emails in my gmail and then came across my first Cravendale newsletter! YAY! And the lovely Cravendale people have put something brilliantly fun on their site, go here to get creative on a digital fridge door! Here is my proud piece of Cravendale related art:

may the force be with you...

2008-05-24T16:23:00.002+01:00

may the force be with you...
Originally uploaded by backtobax

My attempts at fancy dress have mostly ended in disaster. I'm usually the person who turns up dressed in some ludicrous outfit, when most people's fancy dress costume is nothing more than a hat / fake mustache. Last weeks party was no different. Once again (even after moaning on about fancy dress being 'shit' and 'too much effort' and saying to my boyfriend 'oh I might just go in jeans'...) I decided at about 4pm to dash out of the house and run frantically around charity shops looking for bedsheets and white boots. Then I spent the rest of the afternoon sewing and sticking until I finally made my bargain bin £2.50 Leia costume.

However, as is usually the case I turn up dressed like a right plonka having gone way over the top, when most people at the '80's film character' party have either chosen a fairly respectable / subtle character or not dressed up at all.

I felt a little awkward for the first 20 minutes, especially after a few Star Wars enthusiasts pointed out that Leia actually wore that costume in 1977, and therefore doesn't count, but after a few little wines I was running around going "szzzzaaawww, szzzaaaawww" or however you spell the noise a light saber makes.

So after all my sewing efforts I thought a little photoshop (bad photoshop) wouldn't go amiss, so here we have my lightsaber action.

yay!

sex and politics

2008-05-01T22:25:00.004+01:00

This is a bit of a delayed reaction really, as this actually happened last Friday, but what with hangovers and new jobs to deal with I hadn't thought to write this down until now.
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Anyhoo, Friday I had the drunken pleasure of seeing a burlesque nudey lady shaking her bits and eating fire in this bar (rather unsuited for this type of thing) but it was fun none the less, and all rather silly and tongue in cheek. I always thought of burlesque as being the arty, acceptable side of titillation, rather like a live version of 'bizarre' magazine rather than 'hustler', or 'readers wives'.
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I also had the additional pleasure (or so I thought at the time) of giving this nipple-tasseled lady a cigarette outside the bar. 'Brilliant!' I thought. I finally get the chance to talk to a woman like this and find out what makes her tick. A woman who gets her bits out for a living (albeit in an artyfarty genre) therefore she must surely be confident, inspiring, in control of her destiny, a modern feminist even...
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I was wrong. Sadly, our conversation went like this:
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nipple lady: "thanks for the fag"
me: "not a problem, so that was pretty great what you did out there, I couldn't do something like that"
nipple lady: "oh really? yeah. er... I hadn't really thought about it, thanks though"
me: "really? but I mean, how did you get into this sort of thing? Are you a dancer? An artist?"
nipple lady: "erm, well I used to work behind the bar"
me: "oh what here?"
nipple lady: "yeah, and like, they were like, doin this night and stuff"
me: "what the burlesque...?"
nipple lady: "yeah, and so I thought, ah well they're gonna pay me more, and so, well I got nice tits ain't I, so I just thought yeah"
me: "oh"
nipple lady: "can I borrow your light? mine's gone out"
*
I think the fact I refer to her as 'nipple lady' sums it up really. And the moral? (not that there should be one) - some things are for viewing pleasure only, the rest is better left to the imagination.

goodbye holler

2008-04-27T13:02:00.004+01:00

Friday was the last day I will ever do the following:

Answer the phone "hello, Holler" (although I have been known to answer my house phone/mobile "hello holler" out of habit)
Set up a meeting room with tea/coffee/artistically presented plate of biscuits
smell a courier from close range
re-arrange a stationery cupboard
go somewhere like Sway bar (although dancing with Em and Rich 'flash dance' style was amazing!)
Ask Squiz to fix my computer
Ask Ben to fix my computer
order toilet roll from viking direct (and get free chocolate!)
buy flowers from lovely Tim the flower man on leather lane
answer the Holler entry phone to a man who's only known vocabulary is the word 'milk'

Only ten things on the list here, but it could go on and on to reach hundreds. And aside from my gradual slide down a slope of despise for all the various annoyances an office manager has to deal with, I know I will miss it. I have met some amazing people at Holler, and these people have all contributed to my happiness and belief in who I am and what I can achieve.

On Monday I shall start a new job, a new chapter in my career. Quite a scary thought when coming from an agency where I've been so comfortable and know it so well to then plunge into the deep end somewhere new and unfamiliar. This is exciting stuff! And in the words of one of my old colleagues "eh, lets hope"

look what i found

2008-04-20T18:56:00.003+01:00

I was looking through my diary the other day, and found something from years back which my dear friend Johnhead drew for me. We were working at this corporate hell hole where the only benefit was free coffee, and far too frequent ciggy breaks. This I believe is the inspiration for this marvelous cartoon series. There are others which are equally brilliant, but this one is my fave.

Thanks Johnhead, you made data entry much more bearable.

Baby Cue

2008-03-25T11:56:00.004Z

whilst wandering around the internet in search of entertainment I stumbled upon this amazing short film 'Baby Cue' by Hazel Grian. It's probably one of the weirdest animated shorts I have seen. But I love it. If you go here you can see part 2.

Embedded Video

milk matters

2008-03-17T21:09:00.000Z

I'm sure all cows will agree with me here. Milk is indeed fun and yummy. Aside from this obvious point, there is one brand of milk I adore more than any other: Cravendale. I LOVE their adverts, and the website is fantastically fun. I spent an entire lunch break playing around on it and now I have the theme tune set as my ringtone. You can download fun things like this, desktop backgrounds and facemasks on the site - YES! facemasks of the characters! Probably the sort of thing you would wear to an event like this: milk drinking contest I found it whilst searching for Cravendale related things on facebook. I love it that there is no specified prize for drinking a 6pt bottle of milk.
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Anyway, whatever you do with your day, make sure that when you have a little meander around the internet you check out this link, and watch the video 'turn into channel C' it nearly made me cry with glee.
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mooooo x

brian blessed

2008-03-11T12:08:00.000Z

I was thinking to myself last night 'wouldn't it be amazing if I woke up one day and suddenly had the voice of Brian Blessed?'

how great would that be?

here is a fun thing

pet rock

2008-03-06T16:33:00.000Z

found this adorable cartoon on the interweb, it reminded me of my rocks, and inspired me to pimp my rock (i have a rock stuck to my desk drawers, which until about 2 minutes ago was just a plain rock, but now it's a happy rock). yay! rocks are cool.

this is a picture of my rock [above]

rocks ROCK!

celery is boring

2008-03-05T14:20:00.001Z

My lunch today consisted of the following:

1 pasta salad with chicken

2 a bread thing with cheese on it

3 celery sticks with a watery sour cream dip

cow socks make me happy

2008-03-04T17:01:00.000Z

Today I am wearing my favorite pair of socks. As you can see, they are quite brilliant. that's my foot there too. in the sock.

I especially like the udder toes. The toes definitely make the sock i think.

It amuses me to think that while i sit at my desk avoiding my filing and eating kfc that my feet are like little mini cows, only just a sort of blob with udders. The GM cows of the future?

Do you have a lonely sock in need of a friend?

sock-tastic x